Max Kerlow

Max Kerlow

Born: March 3, 1928
Died: July 6, 2016
in Mexico City, Mexico
Prolific Mexican actor with more than 100 films in his filmography.

His first intention was to be a painter. However, life would take him on other paths and his incursion into the world of the arts would be as an architect, a career he studied at the suggestion of a cousin just out of school, given his interest in painting, and from which he graduated from the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 1954. Shortly after, he dedicated himself to promoting crafts with artists such as Manuel Felguérez and Felipe Ehrenberg, one of his first assistants. With Felguérez he devised a different line of ceramics and with Ehrenberg he invented a technique for painting on amate paper, which he later taught to indigenous people in the facilities of his café-gallery La Amargura, located on the street of the same name in the San Ángel neighborhood.

As a painter he only mounted one exhibition, although every day he drew and made caricatures from the news in the newspapers: "One ends up with more or less possibilities of doing what one wanted, although, as Picasso said, at this age is when one has more desire to do things; I feel that one understands them better, knows better what one wants to do, but it is already too late," he acknowledges in the documentary by Carolina Kerlow.

However, it would be in the acting facet in which he would stand out the most and which would give Max Kerlow the most satisfaction.

He began his career in Mexican cinema in 1963 under the direction of Juan José Gurrola in Confesión de Stavroguin.

A friend of directors such as Paul Leduc, Felipe Cazals and Arturo Ripstein, it was natural for him to be invited to participate in their films, although Max Kerlow assured that he always liked acting: "I was invited to parties sometimes just to tell jokes; I have my diploma as a joke teller". He was also a magician. He was even able to combine his interests: "When Miguel Littin said "we are going to Chihuahua to film Actas de Marusia (1976), I took the opportunity to bring my catalogs and sold my crafts very well".

And he was not just any actor making any movie. His film performances are proof of his histrionic quality. He participated in Las Poquianchis (1976), El apando (Felipe Cazals / 1976), Fox Trot (Arturo Ripstein / 1976); Frida, naturaleza viva (Paul Leduc / 1983), where he played the role of Leon Trotsky, Cabeza de Vaca (Nicolas Echevarria / 1991); Cómodas mensualidades (Julian Pastor / 1992); Kino (Felipe Cazals / 1993); De noche vienes Esmeralda (Jaime Humberto Hermosillo / 1997); La hija del caníbal o Lucía, Lucía (Antonio Serrano / 2003), Morirse está en hebreo (Alejandro Springall / 2007); Cinco días sin Nora (Mariana Chenillo, 2008).

In 1998 he won the Ariel Award for best male co-acting for his performance in Por si no te vuelvo a ver (Juan Pablo Villaseñor, 1997), debut film of the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (CCC).

In the Italian film Mediterráneo (1991), directed by Gabriele Salvatores, winner of the Oscar for best foreign film, Max Kerlow had a leading role. He also participated in documentaries and commercials.

Movies for Max Kerlow...

Nora's Will
Title: Nora's Will
Character: Rabbi Jacowitz
Released: October 6, 2008
Type: Movie
Jose learns that Nora, the woman he was married to for 30 years and from whom divorced, has committed suicide. The rabbi explains Joseph that due to the celebrations this time of the year, if Nora is not buried that same day, they should wait at least 5 days for the funeral. Nora had planned before his death, a Machiavellian plan in order that Joseph was the one who has to take care of his funeral. But Nora forgot a small detail, a mysterious photograph stored under her bed, that will remind Joseph that the greatest love stories, sometimes are hidden in the smallest places.
bee
El Viaje de la Nonna
Title: El Viaje de la Nonna
Character: Public Notary
Released: February 7, 2008
Type: Movie
A Mexican family, wanting to grant their Grandmother her last wish, embarks on a make believe trip to a small town in Italy ... in Mexico!
bee
My Mexican Shivah
Title: My Mexican Shivah
Character: Rubinstein
Released: October 26, 2007
Type: Movie
After Moishe's death, family and friends sit Shiva in Mexico City. During seven days, secrets will be disclosed.
bee
Sea of Dreams
Title: Sea of Dreams
Character: Glass blower
Released: November 9, 2006
Type: Movie
On an island across the sea lies a village full of romance, wonder and mystery; a timeless place where people carry strong beliefs that can fulfill the heart's deepest desires. A beautiful ...
bee
A Wonderful World
Title: A Wonderful World
Character: Sacerdote
Released: March 17, 2006
Type: Movie
A fairy tale about the political and socioeconomic realities of Mexico.
bee
La última noche
Title: La última noche
Character: Don Cecilio
Released: February 25, 2005
Type: Movie
bee
Espíritu deportivo
Title: Espíritu deportivo
Character: Corsario Moreno
Released: October 1, 2004
Type: Movie
bee
Remembrance
Title: Remembrance
Released: July 19, 2003
Type: Movie
The documentary film Remembrance is an outline of the past century taking as a motif the life of Luis Frank, a Lithuanian emigrant. It is a journey through a time wich the world was made by war, that of wich we have so many times heard of and by wich we live constantly under menace. Emigration, war, freedom, childhood, the quest for something, a country -Mexico- kept in memories, are some of the subjects dealt within this film. Remembrance is the story of people who have traveled the world in search of a place where to belong, people whose lives were punctuated by ruptures.
bee
Lucía, Lucía
Title: Lucía, Lucía
Character: Old Wehner
Released: January 17, 2003
Type: Movie
Lucia, an children's book author, tells the story of her husband's disappearance. One day on their way to Brazil he just disappears. She goes to the police, gets a ransom note, and makes friends with the old dude downstairs and the young dude upstairs as she tries to find him. Things take a bit of a twist as she realized the kidnapping may not be as simple as it seems on the surface.
bee
I Murder Seriously
Title: I Murder Seriously
Character: Don Eulalio
Released: May 26, 2002
Type: Movie
A cop sets out to find a man who has been delivering too much of a good thing in this offbeat comedy. Police detective Martinez (Jesus Ochoa) has been handed a most unusual case -- a number of local prostitutes have been murdered, and it's up to Martinez to bring in the killer. What makes the case truly unusual, though, is the manner of death; it seems the hookers all died as a result of having orgasms so powerful they were literally fatal. Teaming up with cultural anthropologist Onofre (Daniel Giménez Cacho), Martinez hits the streets looking for clues, and eventually gets some unexpected help from Father Gorkisolo (Santiago Segura), a priest with a unusually deep knowledge of sexual matters. Asesino en Serio was the first feature film from director Antonio Urrutia; noted Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro served as executive producer.
bee
Moctezuma's Revenge
Title: Moctezuma's Revenge
Character: Sr. Malverde
Released: January 1, 2002
Type: Movie
Mexican feature film
bee
Compassionate Sex
Title: Compassionate Sex
Character: Vendedor de colmado
Released: June 30, 2000
Type: Movie
Dolores is a mature and kind woman whose husband abandons her because he can't stand her uncanny generosity. Desperate to get her husband back, she devotes her life to works of charity, which is to go to bed with the other men of the town. Dolores, now "Lolita", becomes so famous that all men seek out her help now. It is through her compassionate sex that she brings back the colour and the happiness to a town that was immersed in sadness. Written by HoMordomo.
bee
Luces de la noche
Title: Luces de la noche
Character: Engineer Klein
Released: May 29, 1998
Type: Movie
On a whim, a retired gentleman decides to track down an old girlfriend from decades back.
bee
If I Never See You Again
Title: If I Never See You Again
Character: Gonzalo
Released: November 18, 1997
Type: Movie
Five elderly men form a music group and run away from the nursing home where they are interns with the hope of playing for an audience. They confront th city, the nursing home authorities, the police and all those who wish to destroy their dream which finally comes true when they are contracted to serve as musical background for strippers of a second class cabaret. In case i never see you again, is a movie about life, death, melancholy and the quest for happiness.
bee
Esmeralda Comes by Night
Title: Esmeralda Comes by Night
Character: Priest in hospital
Released: September 5, 1997
Type: Movie
Esmeralda is married with 5 husbands at the same time, so she has to explain to the judge why she has done this.
bee
Sex Education In Brief Lessons
Title: Sex Education In Brief Lessons
Released: July 25, 1997
Type: Movie
Alejandra and Ana are college friends, both are virgin and hope to find the love of their life soon. Ana meets Miguel, but they agree to just be friends. Alejandra meets Esteban, a well known womanizer.
bee
Viva San Isidro!
Title: Viva San Isidro!
Character: Don Cayetano
Released: April 13, 1995
Type: Movie
bee
Bodas Negras
Title: Bodas Negras
Released: December 31, 1994
Type: Movie
Short produced by TV Azteca, starring José Alonso, Leonor Bonilla and Sergio Bonilla
bee
El tesoro de Clotilde
Title: El tesoro de Clotilde
Character: Justo
Released: November 3, 1994
Type: Movie
Clotilde dies, and her god-daughter has promised to carry out a final wish for her.. Two gangs of thieves and the cops interfere with her fulfilling the promise.
bee
The Queen of the Night
Title: The Queen of the Night
Character: Serge
Released: September 7, 1994
Type: Movie
The legendary life of Mexican singer Lucha Reyes is the basis of this fictionalized biography ( or as director Arturo Ripstein puts it "an imaginary biography"). Lucha Reyes was an unconventional, and sexually liberated woman, most famous for her "cancion ranchera" style singing. Her story begins in 1939, where at 33 she still lived at home with her mother, Dona Victora, the madame of a renowned Mexico City whorehouse. Lucha marries the liberal Pedro Calderon and then buys a beggar's daughter. She becomes the mother to this child, Luzma. Lucha craves lasting love like junkies crave heroin. But for her loyal daughter, she never finds it and in the end no one can help her.
bee
Perfume, efecto inmediato
Title: Perfume, efecto inmediato
Released: January 1, 1994
Type: Movie
A cosmetologist invents a perfume that helps her sister seduce her boss. When her boss realizes the power of the perfume he will try to steal the formula.
bee
Kino: The Legend of the Black Priest
Title: Kino: The Legend of the Black Priest
Character: Italian Superior Priest
Released: May 7, 1993
Type: Movie
Propped up on his deathbed, a 17th century Spanish missionary named Father Kino (Enrique Rocha) looks back on his remarkable life and relives one of his greatest challenges: bringing the teachings of Christianity to California's native population while convincing the Spanish military to respect the Indians' traditions.
bee
Cómodas mensualidades
Title: Cómodas mensualidades
Released: January 24, 1992
Type: Movie
Young married guy is overwhelmed by the expenses involved with starting a family.
bee
Juegos nocturnos
Title: Juegos nocturnos
Released: January 1, 1992
Type: Movie
bee
Cabeza de Vaca
Title: Cabeza de Vaca
Character: Man in armor
Released: October 11, 1991
Type: Movie
An international award winning saga of old Mexico. In 1528, a Spanish expedition flounders off the coast of Florida with 600 lives lost. One survivor, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, roams across the American continent searching for his Spanish comrades. Instead, he discovers the Iguase, an ancient Indian tribe. Over the next eight years, Cabeza de Vaca learns their mystical and mysterious culture, becoming a healer and a leader. But soon this New World collides with the Old World as Spanish conquistadors seek to enslave the Indians, and Cabeza de Vaca must confront his own people and his past.
bee
Bandidos
Title: Bandidos
Character: Sacerdote
Released: August 9, 1991
Type: Movie
In the wake of the Mexican Revolution, a band of pre-teen boys are forced to rely on their own resources for survival.
bee
Dentro de la noche
Title: Dentro de la noche
Released: January 1, 1991
Type: Movie
bee
Las buenas costumbres
Title: Las buenas costumbres
Character: Félix Morin
Released: January 1, 1990
Type: Movie
Mexican feature film
bee
El cielo subterraneo
Title: El cielo subterraneo
Released: January 1, 1988
Type: Movie
Mexican feature film
bee
Pasa en las mejores familias
Title: Pasa en las mejores familias
Released: January 1, 1987
Type: Movie
Mexican feature film
bee
Macho y hembras
Title: Macho y hembras
Released: January 1, 1987
Type: Movie
Mexican feature film
bee
As You See?
Title: As You See?
Released: August 1, 1986
Type: Movie
Award-Winning filmmaker Paul Leduc (Frida, Naturaleza Viva, Reed: Insurgent Mexico, Barroco) directed this gritty musical drama about life in the ghettos of Mexico City during the 1980s. With a soundtrack of Mexican rock music, the camera takes the viewer through the streets, to rock concerts, and to the bars and clubs, where he exposes the hunger, repression, unhealthy conditions and violence in the marginal communities of Mexico's capital city.
bee
Frida Still Life
Title: Frida Still Life
Character: Leon Trotsky
Released: March 13, 1986
Type: Movie
This film is a chronicle of painter Frida Kahlo, and her encounter with the personalities of her time. Despite being confied to a wheelchair as a result of polio, operations and amputations, she faces and traces some of the most colorful and controversial aspects of Mexican history, during the dominant time of Mexican muralism.
bee
Murieron a la mitad del rio
Title: Murieron a la mitad del rio
Character: Mr. Walker
Released: January 1, 1986
Type: Movie
bee
The Humiliated
Title: The Humiliated
Released: January 1, 1986
Type: Movie
Four nuns are raped by a group of lepers. Although they all turn out to be pregnant, their status is hidden from them in the convent.
bee
Va de Nuez
Title: Va de Nuez
Released: January 1, 1986
Type: Movie
bee
Cuentos de Principes y Princesas
Title: Cuentos de Principes y Princesas
Released: January 1, 1981
Type: Movie
bee
Maria of My Heart
Title: Maria of My Heart
Character: Esposo de madrina
Released: May 17, 1979
Type: Movie
Héctor and María meet again after eight years of not seeing each other. She works as a magician in cabarets and he robs houses. María convinces Héctor to become a magician and work together. Life seems to smile on them until one day, when Maria travels to another city, the couple's situation will be overshadowed by an unfortunate event.
bee
En defensa propia
Title: En defensa propia
Released: November 15, 1978
Type: Movie
The leading edge of working-class discontent in a Mexican village is a troop of bandits hiding out in the hills; when the bandit leader is killed, the whole town rises up.
bee
Naufragio
Title: Naufragio
Character: Marino III
Released: November 2, 1978
Type: Movie
One woman lives waiting for her son who is a sailor. She hasn't seen him for years although he writes to her a lot. The woman shares the letters and her grief with a co-worker and friend. This last woman begins to idealize her friend's son.
bee
The Bees
Title: The Bees
Character: Representative at the United Nations - U.S.S.R.
Released: November 1, 1978
Type: Movie
Corporate smuggling of South American killer bees into the United States results in huge swarms terrorizing the northern hemisphere. A small team of scientists work desperately to destroy the threat, but the bees soon mutate into a super-intelligent species that threatens the world.
bee
Pubertinaje
Title: Pubertinaje
Released: February 9, 1978
Type: Movie
Three episodes: 1) "A Christmas dinner" where the family members fantasize about being somewhere else. The fetishist father wants to put on feminine clothes. The son longs for another transvestite adventure. The daughter yearns to be a singer and destroy the saints of the church with her voice. The youngest son wants to stab everyone dead. 2) "Game of mirrors". Two young classmates kiss on a picnic, but the girl's brother accuses the couple of being immoral. Bizarre things develop. 3) "Tetrahedron". A very fat man faces his girlfriend's longing for love.
bee
Three Stories of Love
Title: Three Stories of Love
Released: January 1, 1978
Type: Movie
Three people live in the same building: An anxious teenager, a girl who wants to be kidnapped by a prince, and a maid who wants to explore eroticism.
bee
The Diabolical
Title: The Diabolical
Character: Dueño de la tienda
Released: November 24, 1977
Type: Movie
Dave Boland (Carlos East) wears a strange medallion and robs the bank. He also takes the banker's daughter with him. Then he rapes her and put the satanic mark on her body. He was caught and was prepared for hanging. At moment before hanging Dave uses his supernatural power and makes a local shoe-shiner his accomplice. While running from sheriff Dave was injured and after some time dies. But before his death Dave gives this medallion to shoe-shiner Oscar and asks him to take revenge in the name of Satan. So he does it and also continue to rape and kill women never forgetting to leave satanic mark on their bodies...
bee
La casta divina
Title: La casta divina
Character: Arzobispo de Yucatán
Released: November 17, 1977
Type: Movie
Chronicle Caste War in Yucatan held in the nineteenth century, where the land and the people were the property of the landowners, who called themselves " divine caste ". On one hand, General Salvador Alvarado organized the revolution; on the other, the landowners hire Colonel Ortiz Argumedo to organized the defense of their autonomy. Don Wilfrido, one of the masters, do not hesitate to send his son to fight to maintain their wealth and privileges.
bee
Brothers of the Wind
Title: Brothers of the Wind
Character: Amberson
Released: August 24, 1977
Type: Movie
bee
El viaje
Title: El viaje
Released: June 28, 1977
Type: Movie
bee
El karateca azteca
Title: El karateca azteca
Character: Fritz Kartoffel
Released: November 24, 1976
Type: Movie
Potter who makes fake pre-Colombian statues gets mixed up with thieves and treasure-hunters at an Aztec art museum.
bee
Las Poquianchis
Title: Las Poquianchis
Character: Reportero (uncredited)
Released: November 17, 1976
Type: Movie
During the mid-1970s, in the Mexican state of Guanajuato, authorities discover a clandestine burial ground. The corpses are from murdered prostitutes. The suspects are three sisters known as "Las Poquianchis".
bee
The Heist
Title: The Heist
Character: Preso del suéter amarillo
Released: August 5, 1976
Type: Movie
In Mexico City's infamous Lecumberri prison, three drug-addicted convicts celebrate getting drugs from one of their the mothers. They are found out and locked up in the "apando," the dreaded punishment cell. Protests over the treatment of those held in the cell lead to a bloody confrontation.
bee
Foxtrot
Title: Foxtrot
Character: Captain
Released: March 1, 1976
Type: Movie
A Romanian aristocrat retreats to a desert isle with his wife and servants on the eve of World War II.
bee
El perro y la calentura
Title: El perro y la calentura
Released: January 1, 1976
Type: Movie
Mexican feature film
bee
Celestina
Title: Celestina
Released: January 1, 1976
Type: Movie
bee
Letters from Marusia
Title: Letters from Marusia
Character: Engineer
Released: December 26, 1975
Type: Movie
Chronicle of the repression that a foreign company exerts on the miners of a small nitrate town in Chile, whose workers decide to claim their most essential rights. A reflection of the historic union struggles in the northern Chile that ended with terrible repressive acts.
bee
The Coming of the King Olmos
Title: The Coming of the King Olmos
Released: September 11, 1975
Type: Movie
After spending some time with the Mennonite community in Chihuahua, Reynaldo Olmos goes back to Mexico City and establishes a ministry in the poorest of poor neighborhoods. Is he sincere, or is this a scam?
bee
Those Years
Title: Those Years
Character: Von Thun
Released: March 21, 1974
Type: Movie
President Juárez fights against the conservatives, who have ordered an emperor to be brought from France to govern Mexico
bee
The Prophet Mimi
Title: The Prophet Mimi
Character: Don Paco
Released: December 27, 1973
Type: Movie
Childhood trauma and religious repression causes little boy to grow up and murder .
bee
I Escaped from Devil's Island
Title: I Escaped from Devil's Island
Character: Pelliserre
Released: September 1, 1973
Type: Movie
In 1916, a group of prisoners plot their escape from the notorious fortress located in French Guiana.
bee
The Mansion of Madness
Title: The Mansion of Madness
Character: Dr. Maillard
Released: August 10, 1973
Type: Movie
The inmates of an insane asylum take over the institution, imprison the doctors and staff, and then put into play their own ideas of how the place should be run.
bee
Reed: Insurgent Mexico
Title: Reed: Insurgent Mexico
Character: Antonio Swafeyta
Released: January 5, 1973
Type: Movie
A dramatization of John Reed's newspaper accounts of the Mexican Revolution. Considered the first real film in Mexican cinema to be made on the Mexican Revolution.
bee
Aunt Isabel's Garden
Title: Aunt Isabel's Garden
Released: April 5, 1972
Type: Movie
A ship carrying Conquistadors is wrecked and the survivors are thrown ashore to struggle through the Yucatan jungle.
bee
The Apple of Discord
Title: The Apple of Discord
Released: January 1, 1968
Type: Movie
A man convinces two friends to rob and kill a landowner.